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Human Rights Watch
It is an international non-profit organization that mainly focuses on conducting research,
advocating and promotion of human rights. The organization has its headquarters in New York
with offices all over the world. It was founded in 1978 by Robert Bernstein under the name
Helsinki watch. The organization mission statement is “protecting rights, saving lives”. The
organization was formed to monitor the then Soviet Union compliance with the Helsinki
Accords. The organization shamed government violation of human rights hence contributing to a
democratic transformation. Americas Watch was later founded in 1981 followed by Asian
Watch, Africa Watch, and the Middle East Watch. All the Watch committees were placed under
one umbrella constituting the Human Rights Watch (Donnelly, Jack, & Whelan, 253.
Human Rights Watch is the only organization producing reports on human rights violation in
every country with major focus on gender equality, corruption, child abuse, and criminal justice
system making it unique from other human rights organization. Human Rights Watch has been a
champion of human rights internationally for years, the organization has stood up for
governments that violate basic human rights. The organization advocates for gender equality,
freedom of speech and expression among other basic human rights (Donnelly, Jack, & Whelan, 253.
The most important service provided by the organization is the promotions human rights all over
the worldwide.
Among the key success achieved by the Human Rights watch the promotion of accountability for
violence against civilians. The organization has managed to give voice to rape victims in the
